A.N.
Hello to you all and sorry for the late chapter, this thing was finished two weeks ago but between studying and setting up a discord server with some friends it took a while to check it for any mistakes, well, hopefully there aren't any, hopefully.
Anyway, here is the chapter, hope that you guys enjoy it.
Here is the Discord link for anyone wanting to join in
Of Fiction and Fuckups: 58dX6qYDt5 (remove the spaces, I know I know, but ff likes to mess with urls so this is unfortunately needed)
Chapter 5
Vilkas P.O.V.
I gave a sidelong glance at Kodlak, waiting for his say so, and followed the undead thing 'Maybe a Lich?' into his house.
It was… comely, as far as houses went, maybe on the smaller side of the scale, but not unlike most of the other huntsmen lodges he had been in if only with a more arcane bend to it, with pelts on the walls lined with silvery scripts and dim runic circles carved in the wood itself.
I looked back to the lich, watching as he put a small keg on the table alongside 3 horn goblets, pushing them towards us "Please, help yourselves" he said as he sat back down on his chair.
I looked at Kodlak, who gave back a slight nod, and started to fill my horn, raising it to my lips and taking a big gulp, licking my lips at the familiar taste of blueberries and wildflowers honey, just like the ones near Whiterun "Honningbrew Mead isn't it?" I asked, glad to have something familiar in this strange situation.
"I thought you people might enjoy a familiar taste considering… well…" it said while making a sweeping motion towards himself "I'm probably not who, or what, you expected to meet." He said with something akin to a grimace in his voice, it was hard to tell since whilst his mouth moved his face barely changed form, almost always resembling a leering skull, except for the barest movements of the orbits.
"Alright, let's cut to the chase, what are you, exactly," Kodlak asked, his curt tone cutting through the feeble warmth that managed to set itself into the room.
The thing before us stilled, his shoulders dropping as if in sadness, or perhaps resignation "That's... I'll be honest with you, I woke up like this about a month ago, I know what made me like this, but I don't know why, or how," he said with a sigh, tilting his head to the side as it continued "that, is one of the reasons why I hoped you'd accept my invite".
"What?"
"I think the saying goes… you scratch my back, I scratch yours, yes?" he said, and for the first time, his mouth turned into something akin to a smile, sending shivers through my spine 'bones should not move that way'.
"…How, exactly, do you expect us to scratch your back?" Kodlak asked, one hand resting on his sword as if to threaten the thing before us to choose its next word wisely.
I saw the creature's orbits turn towards Kodlak's hand, the thing flinching a little before hurrying with his explanation, "To put it simply, I need help, where I am from mages are a cut-throat bunch, more likely to kill me and experiment on me to find out how to replicate what made me what I am now instead of trying to help me, I don't know how your mages would behave but I'm not willing to find out without someone to watch my back, that someone being your group, as it were" he explained calmly as if he had just asked them to grab him a wheel of cheese instead of accompanying him to the college of Winterhold and beyond, 'Honestly, the nerve of this thing' I thought with an huff, making to talk before Aela beat me to the punch.
"You do realise that we have our duties, right?" She, ever the conciliator, asked with a huff, her arms crossed on her chest "You ask us to go with you to Winterhold, spend days away from our companions, and for what, mere promises? How do we even know that you'll keep up your end of the agreement?".
It went silent inside the house, the thing before us tilting its head, speaking its next words as if in mockery of her "Whiterun has a court mage does it not?" it asked with what it probably thought was a chuckle, it was not, it was teeth clattering and bone gnashing, more unnatural than whatever form we might take.
"I would ask you only one thing, Asylum, while I try to find a cure, to what I have become." He said leaning back to his chair, his eyes boring on us full expectation and anxiety, by far the most human thing I have seen from it yet.
"You have not yet answered our question, how, exactly, are you supposed to help us?" Aela asked, her hands pressed against the table as she rose up with a start, pushing back her chair.
I couldn't blame her, after all, who'd know what this thing would ask of us in exchange for its help?
The Skeleton, startled, turned towards her, before giving out a fake cough "Ah, well… what I'm about to say might sound weird, but the same accident that turned me into this," he said pointing again to himself "Also gave me some knowledge of this world, Fragmentary it might be, but it is still useful."
"Before we continue this, Lich," Aela said with a growl "How did you become this, what did you do to assume this form, what foul sorcery did you practice to achieve this!"
The thing looked down at its arms, his brow furrowed "…this form isn't my fault, to begin with, one moment me and my teacher are doing an experiment with an elder scroll, the second later the room explodes in a shower of light and I wake up inside a cave, on a body that isn't mine and with a necromancer working on me" he said, gripping the table hard enough to crack it, raising up to its full height, just a bit shorter than me at that.
He glared at Aela, Baleful light in its eyes growing colder with each moment "You want to know what I did to deserve this? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Hell, it was only the first week at the college, and I get turned into this!" he said, smashing a first down on the table, knocking down his empty tankard, the air filling with static.
"How old are you?" Kodlak's voice cut the heavy atmosphere like a knife through butter.
"17, I am 17" He replied, his voice soft, barely stronger than a whisper.
I blanched hearing this, and to think I thought this thing to be some great necromancer or thing of the sort, and instead it was little more than a Welp.
"… I am sorry for my words" Aela said, her head for once bowed out of shame.
"No problem, I can understand the suspicion, hells, I too would be doubtful to work with someone that looks like me, if only because of how they might have reached this point," Arthur replied, his voice still somewhat raspy, but less alien now that I could understand what lied beneath.
"Anyway, the reason why I said I could help you is that, well, I can. Elder scrolls are… weird in how they work, they work off of concept more than straight-up knowledge, and even then, whatever knowledge can be cajoled from them is usually convoluted and undecipherable." He said, returning to the confident stance he had before now that he found himself in his element again.
"Fortunately, fate was on my side for once, and the knowledge I hold is neither undecipherable nor convoluted, if fragmentary, however." He said, looking towards us, his eyes boring into ours "Before I tell you this, I need an oath from you, on your honour as companions and sons of Ysgramor, that you'll help me after this." His voice full of conviction and badly concealed desperation, and in the end, the answer was obvious.
We swore our Oath, on our Honour as companions and sons of Ysgramor, that we would protect him and help him so long as he kept up his end of the deal until he could stand on his own.
He sagged with relief once we swore our oath, almost collapsing on his chair.
I wonder if he knew that was the same oath we gave our recruits when they first join?
"Thank you, now, back to business. What do you know about how the original companions gained the Blood of Hircine?" he asked, his hands idly playing with his empty tankard while he looked at us, his expression calmer than before.
"Mostly what is passed down in the old Harbingers' diaries, I know for sure that the originals companions didn't have it and that Harbinger Terrfyg was the first Harbinger to have the Curse of Hircine flowing through his veins, his records, and the ones after are quite scarce on details trough, so I do not know for sure how he did gain it." Kodlak said, his hand idly scratching his beard, watching patiently as Arthur nodded to him.
"Quite, from what the elder scroll showed me, Harbinger Terrfyg made a deal with the Glenmoril Coven Witches, they would grant him and his power beyond the pale of mortal warriors, and he, like a fool accepted without asking clarification, and thus the Companion's strain of lycanthropy was born," he paused for a moment to grab a breath of air that he probably didn't need 'Wonder why he does it then' I thought as I waited for him to continue.
"The way to get cured is altogether simple, gather the pieces of Wuuthrad and reforge the great axe to gather access to the innermost parts of Ysgramor's Tomb and to the Companion's eternal pyre, kill the Glenmoril witches and cast their heads into the fire, after that you'll need to face an incarnation of your inner beast… and that's it." He said calmly as if he had not dropped on their lap the answer to a question his harbinger had searched for the better half of his life.
"That's it, he says; Boy, Wuuthrad is Shattered, its pieces lost to time, it's a miracle if we even have the fragment, we hold now, and you expect us to find all the other pieces?" Aela asked, her previous fire returning to her once more.
"I already led you to one of those pieces, haven't I?" He said, and this time I swear I can hear the amusement in his voice 'Cheeky bastard'.
"The other pieces are held in the hands of the silver hand or will be if they are not there already," he said amused, rapping his skull with his fingers "That thing didn't really give me a timeline for how this was going to take place, you know."
He stopped then, laying his hands on the table with a sigh "I do know one thing though, they'll be all here in Skyrim after Helgen gets attacked… It didn't get attacked already, did it?" he asked, turning his eyes to Kodlak when he grunted out the answer.
"Not unless it happened while we were travelling here," He said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair, looking only a little less confused than I felt.
"Good that's… good, it means we have some time to prepare… Speaking of preparing, we can go back to Whiterun whenever you people are ready, I already have everything I need right there" he said, pointing at a big satchel and a staff near the door, the first looking full, almost ready to burst with all the things shoved inside it, while the second was a staff of far less decorated make than what I was used to, but still a mage-staff none the less 'how the hell did I miss them before'.
"Oh, Since I settled here, I was always prepared to pick up and leave, nobody knows when someone might see my face," the skeleton said when he saw my confused look, "Smart decision really, if a bit paranoid" I replied with a chuckle.
"It's not paranoia if they are out to get you, is it?" he said with a bit of cheek, before rising up from his chair and grabbing the satchel, making us follow his example.
"Well? Lead on then," he said, pointing the thumb at the door "We got a long way to go."
.
.
.
P.O.V. Switch Arthur
The trip to Whiterun passed quickly and calmly for the most part, apart from an accident with some easily intimidated Bandits, which were disposed of fairly quickly by the three Companions.
It took only a couple of days for us to finally see the walls of the city, and by the Aedra did the game not make it justice.
White, pure white walls stood tall against the plains nearby, a small, bustling town hugging them near for protection while Khajiit caravans sold their wares in tents right outside them while small shops, mostly of agricultural and artisanal make dotted the small settlement near the walls.
It made me want to go and explore and lose myself in the sea of people, yet another thing that the transformation had taken from me, yet another reason to gain a body back.
"Keep close, we are about to pass through the city gates," Kodlak said, noticing me sway towards the crowd before my horse fell into formation straight back again.
We soon reached the gates, giant Doors of oak stood wide open for any visitor, a gaggle of people walked through its main path, with a wide array of artisanal shops lining its sides, the most impressive of all a smithy near the entrance, was an ebon haired and skinned woman stood bent over, hammering away at a cherry red piece of metal.
But the ground district was not where their destination lied, and so they moved on, leaving the horses in a stable nearby the walls, continuing on and passing inside the inner walls of the city.
There, before the hall of the companion stood a goliath of a tree similar to a giant, twisting oak, its bark looked more iron than wood, its twisting branches trough still green held no leaves, as if the chill of winter had stolen them even though it was still spring.
Near it stood two temples, the first one and the closest one was one dedicated to Kynareth, a humble building of sturdy Oak resembling a Christian Chapple, if with a more druidic bend, with only a statue of the goddess to distinguish itself.
The second was not a building and more a gigantic statue of an armoured Man standing conquering over a Wyrm, its sword pointed at the dragon's neck, its gaze strong and resolute, projecting sheer will even through the base stone of its composition.
An old priest in humble garbs was shouting the midday sermon for all to hear, drawing the eyes of our group, even if with different gazes from each one of us.
"That's Heimskr, the local Talos priest," Aela said, disdain in her voice as she glared at the priest, spitting to the side in anger.
"I'll be honest, I didn't take you for a follower of the white-gold concordant" I said surprised at her vitriol.
"I am not," she replied with a grunt before gesturing towards the priest "But I could stand not hearing him scream all day every day, especially when I'm fighting off the effects of the previous feast".
"Fair enough…" I said, trailing off when we reached the hall of the companion, amazed at its greatness.
It looked like a capsized colossal Snekkja, a Viking ship of old, its hull held upwards by pillars of strong oak and good stone, the walls adorned with shields carved with epics of a previous age, narrating the greatest quests the companion had undertaken, forming the walls of the Hall of the companions.
"Well Arthur, welcome to Jorrvaskr" Kodlak said opening the doors to all, a cacophony of noise from another feast his welcome home.
"You'll need to stay here while I go talk to the Jarl," he said before turning to Aela and Vilkas "Speak with Falkas and Skjor, tell them what we have found… I'll be back once I have proof of our fried safe stay through the city".
And so he trotted off towards the palace inside the innermost ring, leaving us behind before Jorrvaskr.
"Come on lad, in you go." Aela said, pushing me inside to meet the other companions.
I let my eyes adjust to the dim light of the room, watching in confusion as the people inside stood in a circle, watching two people fight unarmed and passing bets to each other 'When the hell did this place become a fight club' I thought, before getting my arm grabbed by Vilkas as he started to push me away for the crowd and into the side entrance.
"I suggest you wait here for Kodlak to return. While you've been given safe passage from us, most of the whelps inside do not know that. They might try and do something stupid if they catch... what you are" he said with a sigh, before moving towards a weapon rack on the side of the walls.
He grabbed a couple of practice swords, before tossing me a look "Here, Catch."
My hand snapped upwards, snatching the sword from the air as it was thrown at me "Why?" I asked, even if I knew the answer just by looking him in the eyes, it seemed that I wasn't the only one frayed by the trip.
"Let's see what you can do," he said, before snapping towards me with a stab, using his longer reach to stay out of my range, able to attach me without fearing retaliation.
I parried the overhead slash that he followed through with, grunting at the excess force I could feel in it, quickly taking a step back as we started to circle each other, waiting for him to do the first move, springing towards him when I finally realised he never would.
I went for a stab, trying to get the point through the gaps of his armour, getting my sword parried with ease but twisting my wrist at the last second, bringing the blade upwards at the last moment, managing to scratch his cheek before he twisted his head away, backing off for a moment.
He reached for his face, wiping away the thin rivulet of blood, his grin widening, turning more wolfish by the second as he looked at his fingers stained with his blood "Alright Welp," he said, flicking his sword towards the ground far faster than he had before "The warm-up is over, let's see what you can really do" and as he said that and threw himself at me, I knew in my non-existing heart, that I was screwed.
I tried to break his stride, tried to pierce through his defence, but nothing worked, every stab was avoided, every slash blocked and retaliated against, even the meagre hits I could land were but scratches and light wounds, while I was getting battered to hell and back.
It took yet another 20 minutes for the spar to finish, leaving Vilkas with the light sheen of sweat on his forehead, and me on the ground, sure that if I had lungs, I'd be coughing them out by now and more mentally exhausted than I've ever been since I came here.
"Well," he said with a huff "That was… acceptable," he said with a chuckle, looking at my contrite expression, "Oh chin up lad, I got people inside there that fight worse than you," his hands pointed at the hall behind him, from where the sounds of midday chatter filled the air.
"And a hopeless case wouldn't be able to scratch me, let alone draw blood" he muttered the last part, wiping away the blood from a now quickly closings scratch on his arm.
"So… what should I do to improve," I asked with a huff, slowly rising from the ground.
"Well, you could try to use your offhand more, more than once in the fight you could have punched me or grappled with me, and you didn't even try, that and you need to follow up with your strikes, most people won't give you the same courtesy you give them," he said, his eyes cloudy as if trying to remember some past event, before shaking off his head to exorcise the thoughts.
"Like I said you have potential, it's a shame that no one tried to bring it out before… well, before this." he said with a sigh, grabbing back the swords and putting them back on the rack.
"What do you mean before this?"
"Well, it is obvious is it not? Despite my… disdain shall we say, for the arcane arts we both know that your way lies not with the sword, if you want to find a way to get back your body that is."
"… I do not believe so," I said, Drawing Vilkas attention back to me once more "I do not need neither sleep nor rest, when people sleep I can just continue learning, so I have literally twice the time of a normal man," I said, giving away one of the few upsides of my particular situation "Well, that and the fact that trying to find an answer to this," I said before pointing back to my body with a sweeping motion "Will probably take me all across Skyrim, if not Tamriel as a whole, and I doubt that I would not meet adversity there, " I stopped, before letting out a sigh "I've met it here already before I sent that missive", I shook my head, returning back to the topic at hand "What I am saying is that while it's true that the sword will probably not be my go-to for every situation, it would be stupid to outright ignore it"
"Really, is that so… Very well then," He said, a determined look on his face "If that is what you wish, and if Jarl Balgruuf agrees on your stay in the city, then I will train you to the best of my abilities".
[DING!]
TEACHER GAINED!
While the teacher imparts its wisdom upon the student, the skill soft cap of 25 is raised according to the skill of the teacher up until level 75.
Vilkas: Skills Two-Handed (90), Archery (50), One-Handed (75), Heavy Armor (75), Blocking (50).
Never have I thanked my newly gained difficulty at expressing emotions than I have now.
"Thank you Vilkas, I won't make you regret this decision, I promise."
"We'll see welp, we'll see.".
Time passed quickly as we rested, each of us immersed in our thoughts.
It did not take much time after the spar for Kodlak to come back, greeting me with a smile "After I talked with him and explained the situation Jarl Balgruuf accepted to let you stay in the city, however…" and at this, he turned chagrined "He has insisted that you help defend Whiterun should the need arise, and that you convince the court wizard by yourself if you want his help, otherwise the Library of Winterhold is open for you to peruse."
"I… Thank you, I am surprised you even managed to do this much."
"It is nothing, not compared to what you gave to us, and the Jarl is a good man, once I explained the situation it was not a great effort on his part to grant you this boon." Kodlak said with a smile, patting me on the shoulder before heading into the hall, leaving me behind with Vilkas.
I turned towards Vilkas, giving him as much of a smile as I could "So, I guess I will see you later then?"
"So it seems… Be safe welp, would be bad to lose such a promising student right after I found it." He said, and with a nod headed inside after his harbinger.
I let out a sigh, feeling alone in the trading grounds, before, with a shrug, I started to walk towards the stair of the keep.
The walk was short, little more than a brief walk on the stair of white marble that elevated the Jarl's Keep above the rest of the city, letting it tower over it as an eagle does with its nest.
The keep itself was almost plain in disposition, one of the few things the game had managed to replicate, if only in looks instead of scales, for it was at least twice the size it was in the game, its great Doors carved with scenes from an old battle between a king and a dragon, held a smaller door, used for the people walking in and out of the keep to avoid letting them hang open.
He passed through the door, entering into an Hall lit by braziers and Dim Sunlight coming from the high windows, lending to a calming and cosy sight for anyone entering the building.
I looked around, looking at the long tables not yet set for the midday feast, yet already simple food and drinks could be found on them.
I shook my head, keeping my eyes forward, slowly approaching the golden-haired figure sitting upon the wooden throne, feeling the eyes of the guards train on me as I walked closer and closer.
"HALT! State your business" Said a powerful and Feminine, if a bit rough, voice, startling me and making me turn on a dime towards the origin of the sound, coming face to face to one of the strangest beings I had seen yet.
It was a woman with deep Greyish-purple skin and deep matte red eyes, her face stern and unforgiving, locked into an austere visage as she held a pair of conjured blades in her hands.
'How the hell did I not hear her approach…' I thought as my eyes continued to travel on her body, nothing her lithe, well-trained figure before shaking my head "Stop Arthur, living comes first' I thought to myself, turning my empty eyes to her, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.
"I am Arthur Morgan, Harbinger Kodlak has talked about me to the Jarl, managing to grant me safe stay in his city, I have come to pay my respects to him and to try and convince court wizard Secret-Flame to help me," I said as she grunted.
"A likely story… well then, remove your helmet then, let's see if you are truly who you are." She said, her swords lowering a smidge but still ready to leap for my throat at a moment's notice.
I raised my hands to my head, removing the clasps of my helmet with a calm tug, plucking it out and placing it to my side, doing the same with the wooden mask I held underneath., revealing my face to the woman.
"Woah…" I heard from the nearby guards, almost flinching at that before focusing back on the woman, her eyes wide and her weapon dropped, disappearing to the aether, ready to be resummoned at a moment's notice.
"So Kodlak was saying the truth then…" she murmurs before snorting, grabbing the helmet and mask from my hands and turning her back to me, and waving towards me to follow her.
I walked towards the throne, the Elf walking always a step before me, no matter my pace, till we reached the feet of the throne, and I was able to fully gaze at the man sitting on it.
He was Fair of Hair and skin that showed signs of age and battle, his eyes were blue and hard, yet not cold, framed as they were by thick eyebrows and an aquiline nose that looked like it had once broken and never set properly.
He wore a fine sleeveless tabard with the crest of Whiterun on his chest emblazed proudly on his chest, his arms showing his warrior past proudly with their scar-covered flesh.
He was not a mountain of a man, barely taller than me to tell the truth, yet the presence he had, the way he held himself made him seem as if he was several sizes larger.
And then he spoke.
"So, you are the one that has made the old wolf come out of his den, aren't you?" He said with a chuckle "I must say when he talked to me about you, I expected something… More" he said waving over me.
"I'll try not to disappoint next time, Jarl Balgruuf," I said with mirth glad that the meeting started on the right foot, the stress of the situation lighting up a little.
"See that you do." He said with a chuckle before calming down, his face returning to the harshness it had before "Now as far as your staying here... as I promised to Kodlak, your stay inside the city of Whiterun will be guaranteed as well as any other citizen, as long as you obey our laws of course" he said with a nod towards the guard to his side, biding him to spread the word to the rest of the guards.
"However, I would ask you to keep your face covered, for your and my people safety if nothing else, you know well how the undead are perceived, and that's not even considering the mess that it would make for me if the priesthood of Arkay or the Vigilants of Stendarr were to be involved," he said, nodding towards Irileth to give me my helmet and mask back, drawing a sigh of relief from me once I put it back on, glad for safety that the helmet provided.
"Glad that you agree," he said with a nod before gesturing for one of his guards "This is Ragnar, he will lead you towards the palace's library, you are welcome to it any time of the day."
"What about the court wizard?" I asked just as he finished talking, noting his small frown at the interruption.
"Unfortunately, he is still coming back from his yearly report on his research to the college of Winterhold, so he won't be back till tonight at the very least." He said with a huff, now slightly annoyed, and so I bowed my head in thanks, before swiftly following the guard as he led me through the straight halls of the palace until I reached a big room at the end of the corridor.
The results were… underwhelming to say the least, it was not as big a library as I had hoped, instead of tall rows of bookshelves, full to the brim with tomes and numerous enough to form a maze there were three maybe four, its books barely reaching a hundred flat, with scrolls and loose notes in between them.
While it was certainly a big collection, for the standards of the era at least, it held not even a candle to what even my town library had, and yet it was still more than I had before, and so, thanking the guard, I set out to towards the bookshelves and immersed myself in the simple pleasure of reading.
I spent hours in the room, using candles once the light of the sun went out, and even summoning mage light once even those ended.
The books were hard to understand at first, their wording much more flowery and intricate than what I had encountered till now, the language a slightly more archaic form than the one I was used to until now, but eventually, I managed to understand enough to know that the book I was reading was one about alchemical recipes, something completely useless for me right now.
"Well, that was a waste of time" I muttered, closing the book with a sigh, watching the moon shine its glow through the window, bathing the room in its silver light.
"So, I heard you were asking for me" I turned as I heard a deep voice coming from behind me, my eyes straining to see whoever spoke.
There, under the roof of the door stood a middle-aged man clad in a blue robe, tiny runes etched on the margins glowed with dim light, dim enough to not be noticed by the unaware aye bit strong enough to be there for those that knew where to look.
He noticed where my gaze went and smirked a bit, before coming out from the shadows under the door to meet me face to face.
He was remarkably similar to how he looked in the game, an aquiline nose framing small, brown eyes, thick hairs framed a tired face as sideburns acted in lew of a beard, his lips seemingly set on a permanent frown.
"You know, when I reached the keep, I thought of many, many things, from the warm bath that awaited me to finally getting to sleep on a bed warmer than ice for the first time in a week, so imagine my surprise when I find out that a skeleton took residence in the keep and is actually waiting for me, let alone that it claims not to be a lich." He said with a snort, before blasting me with pale green light, stilling me as if I was a statue.
[Continuous Paralysis Effect] Active on self!
"Now let's see what you really are," he said, grabbing my mask and pulling it away, frowning as he looked at my skull.
"What the oblivion…" he said, grabbing my skull roughly and tugging it around "where are the runes?" he muttered with a frown, before waving his hands along my face, runic inscription wafting from them as if smoke, golden motes of light flew from mouth as he muttered quick incantations under his breath, growing more and more concerned the more they failed to do anything.
"What are you." He said, stepping back with a bewildered look, before cutting towards me with his hands, the spell holding me upright failing abruptly, making me fall down on the floor in a heap, gasping greedily for air I didn't need.
[Continuous Paralysis Effect] Deactivated!
"Sorry for that, one can never be too careful with undeads, I am sure you understand," he said with a smirk, which widened further once he saw my contrite expression before his expression turned again into a frown "Now, answer the question please, what are you?" he asked, his expression more intense than before.
"Do you think I'd be here if I knew?" I snarled, pushing against the floor and rising back to my full eight, putting back my mask and helmet, drawing in a sigh of relief as I did so.
"What." He said confused, as if not understanding what I said.
"Look, I just woke up like this a couple of days ago, with no idea how this happened, one second my master was doing an experiment with an elder scroll, the second later I woke up as a fucking undead-"
"Not an undead," he said, stopping me in the middle of my rant, leaving me incredibly baffled and confused.
"You do not register as an undead to any spell I have tasted you with, up to, and including, a Meridian invocation that should have turned you into a pile of slightly glowing ash," he said nonchalantly as if he hadn't just said that he had just tried to kill me.
"Oh don't look at me that way, you would have done the same in my situation, and hey, look at it this way, I have now one more reason to help you and one less reason to kill you, you are making progress," he said with an irritating smile, Gods how I wished I could just punch him In the face and be done with it, but sometimes the only thing a man can do If he needs something is to grit his teeth and take it.
"Please then, will you help me understand what is going on with me?" I asked, almost exasperated and incredibly exhausted after only having spoken with the man for five minutes.
He looked pensive at my question, probably trying to decide what to do with me before he shrugged and said with a sigh.
"Might as well, it's not like my current research has gone anywhere for some time… and studying you might be just what I need to push forward with it." He muttered before raising his eyes to meet mines, nodding to me and saying "Very well, your lessons will begin every day an hour after dawn until the midday meal, I will wait for you in my studio tomorrow, do not be late." He said, walking out of the door and leaving me confused and baffled.
[DING!]
TEACHER GAINED!
While the teacher imparts its wisdom upon the student, the skill soft cap of 25 is raised according to the skill of the teacher up until level 75.
Farengar Secret-Fire: Destruction (90), Conjuration (90), Illusion (75), Alteration (75), Restoration (50), Alchemy (50), Enchanting (75).
"What the fuck has just happened? And how the hell am I not an undead" I thought, sitting down on the nearby chair, more confused than anything else at what had transpired.
Sure, I had gotten everything I had come here for, but why do I feel like I just got the short end of the stick?
"Goddammit I am too tired to think" I muttered, letting my head fall on the nearby table 'I'll just rest my eyes a bit' I thought, the world fading away in but a moment, letting me fall, in blissful, silent, sleep.